A Burnaby co-op has been ordered to pay $400 in damages and to "reasonably and objectively" investigate ongoing noise complaints from one of its members.
Shaesta Rajabali, a member of the Spectrum Housing Co-operative, appealed to the province's Civil Resolution Tribunal, claiming $5,000 in compensation for "undue stress" and asking for an order compelling the co-op to rule on a dispute between her and her downstairs neighbour, according to a tribunal ruling Wednesday.
Since Rajabali moved into her unit in May 2021, she and her neighbour – identified in the ruling only as SK – have had an ongoing conflict over noise and "other issues," the ruling said.
Both have complained to the co-op about the other numerous times.
Starting in November 2021, Rajabali made several noise complaints about SK, reporting loud music and a loud vacuum, often late at night.
SK’s noise complaints were also ongoing during that time.
The co-op wrote to both, asking them to report unreasonable noise in real time so a board member could attend and observe.
But, in February 2022, when Rajabali emailed the board to say SK was banging on the ceiling, no one attended, according to the ruling.
"Instead, on Feb. 22, 2022, the co-op wrote to both Mrs. Rajabali and SK to say it had exhausted its options and would take no further action," the ruling said.
After more complaints from both parties, however, the co-op did pay for a professional mediator, but a mediation in late December 2023 went nowhere.
"Mrs. Rajabali and SK were not able to resolve any significant aspects of their ongoing dispute," stated the ruling. "There is no evidence anything has happened since."
In the ruling, tribunal vice chair Eric Regehr noted the co-op has policies outlined in a member handbook, including a rule that there will be no excessive noise between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The co-op also rules about dispute resolution, starting with attempts to resolve the dispute without strata involvement and ending – if the dispute can't be resolved another way – with a ruling from the co-op's arbitration committee, which is final.
Rajabali asked the tribunal to order the co-op to rule on the dispute as per its policy, but Regehr said such a step would be premature.
Instead, he ordered the co-op to objectively investigate Rajabali’s noise complaints first.
"The co-op may determine that SK and Mrs. Rajabali are both making unreasonable noise, or that only one of them is, or that neither of them is," Regehr said.
The "main way the co-op has failed" Rajabali, according to Regehr, was by not properly investigating the complaints.
"I find that, when faced with persistent noise complaints like Mrs. Rajabali’s, the co-op must take active steps to independently and objectively determine whether the noise violates the co-op's occupancy agreement," Regehr wrote. "There are several ways the co-op could have fulfilled this obligation. The co-op could have hired a professional acoustic engineering firm."
A lack of sufficient evidence about the noise, such as decibel readings, audio or video recordings, witness statements or professional measurements, also meant Rajabali had not proven the noise coming from SK’s apartment was unreasonable, according to Regehr.
Instead of $5,000 in compensation, he therefore awarded her $400 because the co-op hadn't properly acted on her complaints.
"I find that Mrs. Rajabali is entitled to modest damages to compensate her for this unfairly prejudicial failure to act," Regehr said.
He gave the co-op 60 days to investigate the noise complaints and ordered it to pay Rajabali’s tribunal fees and expenses.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
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